Michael Townes has joined HNTB Corp. as senior vice president and national transit market sector leader. Townes brings 35 years of experience in transportation and public transit. Townes is based in the firm’s Arlington, Virginia, office and works with transit clients across the country.
He has served in the public transportation industry’s top policy position as chair of the American Public Transportation Association Executive Committee, representing more than 400 public transit organizations in the United States and Canada. Townes also has held other national industry leadership positions, including chair of the Transportation Research Board Executive Committee as well as chair of the Mineta Transportation Institute board of trustees. Additionally, he is recognized as one of the transit’s top legislative advocates and has testified numerous times before Congress and other legislative bodies.
“As someone who has delivered multimillion dollar projects and helped shaped policy, Michael is a nationally recognized transit leader with a unique understanding of both the opportunities and challenges within our industry,” said Rob Slimp, PE, CEO of HNTB Corp. “Michael will lead our team of transit professionals and ensure the firm’s commitment to addressing the growing needs of today’s transit agencies, ranging from bus rapid transit to intercity passenger rail to high-speed rail, and other forms of public mobility.”
Prior to joining HNTB, Townes worked as national transit services leader for CDM Smith. Previous to that, he was president and CEO of Hampton Roads Transit in Virginia, where he led an organization of more than 900 employees with an annual capital budget of $85 million and transitioned the organization from a 130-bus operation to a 260-bus/multimodal operation. He also implemented a highly successful major merger of two transit systems located in Hampton-Newport News and Norfolk, Virginia.
As national transit market sector leader at HNTB, Townes is responsible for strategic planning and implementation, industry representation, business development, service delivery and client satisfaction.
In addition to his leadership roles with APTA, TRB and the Mineta Transportation Institute, Townes has been active with leadership positions in a number of industry associations and organizations, including the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials, Transportation Cooperative Research Program, Virginia Transportation Association, Virginia High Speed Rail Development Committee, Governor’s Commission on Climate Change, Eno Transportation Foundation and the Hampton Roads Public Transportation Alliance.
Townes holds a Master of Urban and Regional Planning and a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Virginia Commonwealth University.
